Joss Whedon still loves you, (potentially) adds lesbian character to “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Let’s kick off Monday morning with a bit of (potentially) good news, shall we? According to a trusted source at Latino Review, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.has maybe-hopefully-apparently cast Saffron Burrows to play the out-and-proud Agent Victoria Hand in at least one episode this season. If it’s true (oh, please let it be true), it’s exciting news for a variety of reasons. Firstly, Burrows is openly bisexual in real life. And secondly, Agent Hand is one of the most interesting and complicated women in the S.H.I.E.L.D.-verse in the comic books.

If you don’t want any comic book spoilers, skip the next two paragraphs.

Victoria Hand appears in multiple Marvel titles, from Invincible Iron Man to New Avengers. She is a S.H.I.E.L.D. accountant who isin a relationship with an agent named Isabelle, but their romance ends in an emotional explosion when Victoria confronts Nick Fury because she thinks his War on Terror policies aren’t aggressive enough. She gets herself shipped off to the pacific northwest where she becomes one of Norman Osborn’s most trusted advisers when H.A.M.M.E.R. takes over S.H.I.E.L.D. and installs “dark” versions of all the Avengers.

Hand is to Osborn what Pepper Potts is to Tony Stark, without the sexytimes on account of she’s a raging homosexual. Ultimately, Hand comes into direct conflict with Pepper and Maria Hill and Black Widow in an epic battle I would very much like to see play out on-screen. (Burrows vs. Gwyneth Paltrow, Cobie Smulders, and Scarlett Johansson? Yes, please.) Victoria Hand is not a good guy at all. But she’s also not really a bad guy. I mean, she does some pretty awful stuff, but her motivations are rooted in a desire to protect the planet. She’s a complex cookie, is what I am saying. H.A.M.M.E.R. is the main thing we keep hearing about in the new Captain America: Winter Solider trailers, so it makes sense that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking to introduce the organization on the show before the film hits theaters. It’s pretty awesome if they’re really planning to drop that bomb with Hand, because: a) she’s a woman, and b) she’s gay, and c) she’s one of Nick Fury’s most longterm foes.

We put a pin in our Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recaps because they weren’t getting much traction without a lesbian/bi character in the mix, but we’re going to pick back up with them this week, because we’ve heard that a lot of you are missing them, and also we want to be prepared when Victoria Hand lands. Are you excited about this potentially awesome news?